


The Next Generation

by ConfusedSpaceKid



Series: Voltron Family and time-travel shenanigans [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Multi, Original Character(s), Season seven never happened, Self-Indulgent, Space family, Time Travel, Timeline What Timeline, parent klance, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-08-16 21:40:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16503197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfusedSpaceKid/pseuds/ConfusedSpaceKid
Summary: Thanks to Druid magic, the team meets their successors.





	1. The Beginning

Like so many of their problems, it was all that damn witch, Haggar,’s fault. The mission was simple, go to a mostly deserted Galran research base, take out the general who controlled it and their crew, download as much information as possible, then blow it up. Easy. Especially because most of General Xyra’s crew had sworn their loyalty to Lotor and left. What they hadn’t counted on was this place being one of Haggar’s secret laboratories, or that Pidge’s hacking system would set off one of her experiments. They had thought they had time to escape. Hell, they all made it to their lions before that weird wall of light engulfed them. The comms were flooded with panic for a second before each and every one of the Paladins lost consciousness.

Lance woke slowly before he realized he was slumped over in Red’s cockpit. After that he snapped awake and immediately tried the comms, remembering how he got into that position.

“Guys! Hello? Everyone alright?” He called out nervously. Nothing. “Hello?! Anyone out there?!? Keith? Pidge? Hunk? Allura? You guys alright? Please, come on guys, you’re scaring me! Coran? Shiro? You guys there?” He asked desperately. Still no voices, but at least this time there was a blast of static, at least that meant someone was trying to reach out. After a while the static cleared and he could hear Pidge calling out much in the same way he was.

“Hello? Can anyone hear me now? Everyone ok?” her voice laced with concern.

“PIDGE! I’m ok! Everyone else?” Lance replied quickly, thrilled to hear his teammate's voice.

“I’m alright, though blue’s completely down and I have no idea where I am” Allura replied. Lance noticed he was in the same state. Red was completely unresponsive and the landscape outside his window was not that of the planet the base they just attacked was orbiting.

“Yeah, same with me and Yellow,” Hunk chimed in immediately after Allura spoke.

“Same here,” Pidge announced.

“Red’s down too,” Lance added, then a thought occurred to him “...Hey Fearless Leader, you alright? You’re acting kind of quiet for the guy that’s supposed to be in charge,” he teased, trying not to let his concern show through. The stupid mullet had just probably stormed off to investigate without his helmet. He still needed to work on his impulse control.

“Sorry, I’m fine, Black’s down, I don’t know where I ended up. It’s just...I got distracted,” Keith responded quickly, still sounding as though his mind was somewhere else.

“Got distracted? Dude! We nearly died like 5 minutes ago! We’re all lost and our lions are down! Also, friendly reminder, as Black Paladin it’s your job to lead us through this! How could you possibly get distracted?” Lance asked ludicrously, over-dramatic as always.

“I think I see one of you...I can’t tell who, but I’m nearly certain that’s a Lion. I’m heading over,” Keith answered still very obviously in his own head.

“Hey, Leader, what are the rest of us supposed to do,” Lance asked, annoyed at how bad at his job the Black Paladin was. He knew Keith could be a great leader. The Black Lion wouldn’t have chosen him, let alone let him return, if he couldn’t be. Keith just needed to adjust to the role, which in all fairness, was going a lot better now that they had the real Shiro back to help him, but it was still slow goings. Until he adjusted though, Lance was still basically his common sense and as much as he liked the guy (much more than he’d ever admit) it was still tiring.

“Head out and try to get a bearing on your surroundings, but stick close to your Lions so we can find eachoth-” Keith’s voice cut out suddenly in a burst of static. Lance could hear a few indistinguishable voices through the static for a moment before everything went silent again. Lance cursed, but followed his orders, exiting Red through the emergency hatch.

He looked around. He seemed to be in some sort of desert because pretty much all there was to see were dunes of fine, light grey sand. He kept his helmet on, with Red and any sophisticated functions of his suit down, he had no way of knowing if the environment was hospitable to humans. He did know that it was blisteringly hot. Not only that but it was a dry heat. Lance could handle humid heat like it was nothing, he was from Cuba after all, but dry heat was miserable. He looked up at the pretty lilac sky and searched for source of the awful heat. According to the position of the sun, it was about midday. Whatever that meant on this planet.

From where Red had landed, he was sort of in a valley between two rows of very tall dunes. Deciding that no one would be able to see him from this position, he decided to climb one of the dunes to see if he couldn’t find anyone else. Sure enough one of the first things he noticed was a Lion sticking straight up out of one of the dunes a ways off. As he got closer he noticed a figure in paladin armor trying to dig the Lion out with their helmet. The only thing was that Lance didn’t recognize the figure at all, they seemed to be around his height, maybe a little shorter, though it was hard to tell from his distance, curvy, and they were wearing red armor. As Lance got even closer he could see the paint on the legs of the buried Lion. Also red. What the actual hell? Lance summoned his bayard, but didn’t activate it and continued his approach.

The other red paladin didn’t seem to notice him as he came close, working furiously to dig out their Red using their helmet as a shovel. “Need any help?” he called as soon as he was within ear shot. The other paladin jumped and whirled around so quickly they nearly came tumbling down the dune, only catching themself last minute.

“Uncle Lance?!” They called out in utter confusion and surprise. Lance stood there equally as confused. He could now get a good look at her. Firstly, she was Altean, her ears didn’t look quite as pointed as any other Altean he had met, but the warm sunset orange markings on her cheeks confirmed her heritage. She had soft lilac eyes, wavy long black hair, and had a deep, warm complexion. Her sweet-looking, round, naggingly familiar face was twisted in confusion and distress until it fell into one of annoyed resignation, “Alright, I’m hallucinating now, that’s lovely, that’s what I need, some force-ghost bullshit of my uncle to just stand there and judge me. Thanks brain. That’ll help me fix the situation,” She slowly shook her head while covering her face, clearly trying to make him disappear. Lance, of course, remained, even more confused than before.

“Umm, who are you and what are you talking about?” Lance questioned.

“So... you aren’t a hallucination caused by me overworking myself in this heat,” She questioned back. Lance shook his head. “Ok. That’s actually much worse. I’m Samantha, I thought you were some sort of hallucination caused by the heat because you look my age and I’m really concerned by that paired with the fact you don’t know who I am,” she rambled anxiously, her eyes slightly watery. Something about her was really, really familiar.

“Why did you call me Uncle?” Lance asked, it seemed like the most pressing concern.

Samantha paused then sighed, “I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but I already fucked up, so why not. I’m Hunk’s daughter,” She answered, anxiety still tinting her tone, but she seemed much more in control now.

Lance was just more confused, “Hunk doesn’t have a daughter. I mean we’re 17, he literally couldn’t have a kid your age! Also, how are you a Paladin when there are already Paladins! Are you trying to suggest your from the future or something?” He knew the answer before he finished his question.

“...Yes. If you really are in your late teens and not in your late 30’s and just fucking with me, then yes, from your perspective - and possibly in truth, I have no clue how I ended up here- I am from the future,” she replied. Well, she certainly had Hunk’s anxiety and paranoia.

“So you’re really Hunk’s daughter? From the future?” Lance clarified. She nodded. This was one of those things that was nearly too weird for him to be able to just roll with, until a thought came to his mind. “So if you’re really from the future, then you’d know about the future Mrs.Red-Lion then,” Lance suggested grinning.

Samantha burst out laughing, to the point where she was literally doubled over, tears streaming down her face. Lance was actually a little worried until she calmed down enough to speak. “I-I’m sorry. It-it’s just your spouse would kill you for calling h-them that,” She managed to choke out. She laughed a bit more before continuing, “I knew you’d ask about your spouse, but I was not expecting you to phrase it like that,” she cleared her throat now that she had calmed back down completely, “But seriously, all I can tell you is that yes, you are happily married,”. Lance was grinning like an idiot and he knew it, but if this was real, and this girl truly was his niece from the future, he would get married, he would find the one. Ever since he was little one of his major goals in life was to find true love and have a family of his own. Now he knew he would find love. He couldn’t be happier.

Then another thought occurred. “Do I have any kids?” he asked eagerly.

“Yes,” was all she would say, but Lance still beamed, then his eyes went wide.

“Are they a Paladin?” he was practically bouncing. As much as he didn’t want to pass this war onto his children and wanted them to be safe and happy, the thought of his child being worthy of a Lion made him really proud. Besides Allura and Coran had said that Voltron was created during a time of peace, so maybe Samantha and his kid would just be keeping the peace.

Samantha chuckled, “Yes. I’ll be honest, the whole team is at least 2nd generation,” she looked as though she immediately regretted saying that, but whatever damage there was was done.

“Really? Tha-” Lance was going to continue to probe Samantha for information but there was interrupted by a loud burst of static coming from Samantha’s helmet. She barely shook it out before slamming it back on her head, causing her face to become dusted with the fine grey sand.

“Yes? Yes? Hello? I’m here! Anyone still there?” she called out urgently into her comms. Someone must have responded because she appeared to be listening. “Yes, I am the Red Paladin of Voltron...Why do you have one of my teammate’s helmet?” she asked seriously. One oh his teammates must have stumbled across one of hers. “She’s WHAT? Is she OK?” Samantha yelled back into the comms with concern. She paused as she waited for his teammate to finish their reply. “Ok...I can’t get to her myself, my lion is down… Buuut, I may be able to get a ride if your guys’ lions really are booting back up. Send Lance your coordinates” She replied, clearly taking her time to think. His teammate, apparently Pidge, must have agreed to that because he did in fact receive coordinates to the green lion, and apparently their lions were rebooting, because they powered most of the suits higher functions, which were now running again. Looks like he was giving his future-niece a lift.


	2. The Daughters of Voltron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is primarily presented through the POV of the next gen. Green Paladin.

Fala’s head felt like it was about to split open. Stupid fucking Druids. Damn bitch Honerva, fucking with her family for literally thousands of years.

Whatever, they must have made it back home after the crash, as she could hear Aunt Pidge, Uncle Lance and Samantha talking around her. She briefly wondered why it was so hot and where her mom was. She would probably be doting over her for a few days, hell, if her head still hurt this bad and she wasn’t in a healing pod then her dad might even come back from his mission early to check up on her. That would be nice.

Her head still hurt and it was so hot that she decided she should probably just go back to sleep and hope all would be well when she woke up.

“Fala, for fucks sake please wake up!” Samantha urged, her voice trembling in panic. She wondered why, but her thoughts were too fuzzy and heavy to linger on that for too long.

“Nooo, ‘Mantha ev’rythin iz fine” Fala slurred, her tongue lead and tasting of copper.

“No it isn’t! You need to wake up! You hit your head!” Samantha urged.

“‘M fin” she insisted nearly incoherently.

“Fala, you really do need to get up, ok, princess?” Lance added, laying a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Why? ‘Nd iv I ‘urt myszzf so bd, were’s Mom?” Fala questioned. Talking hurt and she just wanted to go to sleep. Why can’t she just go to bed? Maybe have mom or dad tuck her in like they did when she was little.

“That’s actually a really good point,” Samantha suddenly exclaimed, “Aunt Allura can heal wounds. She can heal Fala!”

“She can?” Pidge asked perplexed, “I’ve only see her heal planets, not people.”

“She raised me and Shiro from the dead, I’m sure a concussion is nothing,” Lance scoffed.

“When the hell did you die?!” Pidge exclaimed.

“I’ll tell you later,” Lance blew off, testing his comms once more. “Hello? Hello? Anyone there? Allura, can you hear me?” He shouted into his helmet. A very loud burst of static answered his call, before he got some sort of reply as he was clearly listening intently into the helmet. “Yeah, me and Pidge already know about the other paladins, we’re with two of them now, listen-” Lance spoke hurriedly to whoever was on the other end (who even Fala, in her barely conscious state, hoped was her mother). His brows furrowed as he was cut off by the other person. “No, Allura, these guys are alright… Look I’m sure there is a perfectly good reason she isn’t talking to you...if she’s doing that she might be deaf, that sounds like it may be sign-” Lance spoke slowly, clearly taking his time to think, before Samantha cut him off in a burst of noise.

“She’s mute! Zuki’s Mute!! She can’t talk!” She exclaimed.

“Allura she’s mute, she can’t talk to you,” Lance conveyed back quickly, “But listen, the Lions are back up and we really need you, we have an injured person over here, and you’re the only one we know who can heal people. I’ll send you my coordinates, meet us here.”

“Tell her to bring Zuki too!” Samantha added.

“And bring Zuki here too,” Lance added, there was a short pause before he smiled and reported that Allura was on her way with Zuki in tow.

“Thank god, Zuki’ll know what to do,” Samantha sighed, gently laying Fala’s head on her lap, who groaned in response to the movement.

“Zuki’s the Blue Paladin though, right?” Pidge asked, observing the injured Green Paladin carefully from a distance.

“Yeah?” Samantha replied, confused.

“I just would have figured you would be saying that about your Black Paladin,” Pidge continued.

Lance laughed, “Would you say that about our Black Paladin?”

“I would if it were still Shiro!” She replied defensively.

“But it isn’t,” Lance shot back.

“True,” Pidge conceded.

“Anyway, our Black Paladin is… well, he’s a total dumbass. He tries, but none of us were expecting Alex to be our Black Paladin. We all thought it would be Zuki, honestly. She’s the oldest, the one who’s always kept us in check. Alex and I were the trouble makers growing up, no one expected us to get put in charge. But here we are,” Samantha admitted.

“You all grew up together?” Pidge asked.

“Yeah. We’re all cousins… though I guess Alex and Zuki are more cousins than I am to either of them since their dads are actually brothers, but not like that really matters,” She rambled in reply.

Allura must have been close as they spotted the Blue Lion on the horizon before Pidge could ask anymore questions. The princess left Blue quickly, looking flustered and accompanied by a large Galran in Blue Paladin armor.

“Zuki!” Samantha cried in relief. Zuki waved I response, bee-lining for her injured cousin.

“Allura, she hit her head, you can help her right?” Lance asked, leading her over to where Fala laid in Samantha’s lap.

“I believe so…” Allura replied hesitantly, kneeling beside Fala to get a good look at her face.

“Is...is she _Altean_?” Allura gasped, looking up at Samantha and noticing the sunset orange marks on her cheeks, “ _You’re_ Altean…”.

“Well, we’re both half, we can explain more once she’s healed, ok?” Samantha replied quickly.

Fala managed to crack open her eyes again and noticed the familiar bright blue eyes hovering over her face. Oh! So her mom _was_ here. “Mommy,” she managed out weakly in Altean. All she wanted was for her mom to take care of her like she did when she was little.

“Mommy?” Allura repeated, also in Altean. Fala wondered vaguely why that name confused her. Maybe because she was too old to call her mother that? Probably, but she didn’t feel like being grown right now.

“She hit her head awfully hard...but I believe I can help her,” Allura announced.

“Oh, thank the stars” Samantha sighed in relief.

The next thing Fala knew her mom’s hands were on her head which then felt very warm. Then all of a sudden the pain went away and she could think again.

“What just happened,” she asked sitting up. Samantha and Zuki immediately put their hands on each of her shoulders.

“You should take it easy, Fala,” Samantha warned.

“And brace yourself. We’re in the middle of some weird shit,” Zuki signed before replacing her natural hand on her shoulder.

“What do you mean, ‘weird shit’,” Fala asked critically.

“Turn around,” Zuki signed.

 _Oh_. Yeah, that was weird. Sitting there concerned was her mother… but she looked about the same age as Fala herself, clad in her Paladin armor, hair pulled back into a large bun, suggesting that it was a lot longer than the short bob she had kept it in for most of Fala’s life. Behind her, watching cautiously was her Aunt Pidge and Uncle Lance, also looking _decathebes_ younger. Quiznack.

“Umm, hello, I am Princess Allura of Altea, Blue Paladin of Voltron,” _her mother_ introduced herself awkwardly.

“Princess, she knows who you are… they kinda all do.” Lance points out.

“Oh. I’m sorry. But I don’t believe I know who you are all,” she corrected with a polite smile.

“I’m Samantha Garrett, the Red Paladin of Voltron,” Samantha introduced herself just as formally. Fala and Zuki both turned to look at their cousin in shock and horror.

“WHY WOULD YOU USE YOUR LAST NAME?!?” Zuki signed animatedly.

“Are you kidding me, ‘Mantha?” Fala hissed.

“Look, this is all really weird, she introduced herself all formal, and I panicked so I just copied what she did,” Samantha rambled, clearly flustered.

“What’s wrong?” Allura asked concerned.

“Did she say her last name was _Garrett_?” Pidge asked slowly.

“Anyway, I’m Fala and this is Mizuki. The Green and Blue Paladins respectively,” Fala announced over everyone in an attempt to change the subject.

“So, how exactly are you paladins?” Pidge questioned. “Alternate reality?”

“Umm. No.” Samantha answered sheepishly.

Zuki tapped her shoulder to grab her attention then signed, “Let us do the talking, _please_.”

“There really isn’t any point avoiding the truth…” she replies quietly, “Since I may have already told Uncle Lance by accident,” she looked up at her two older cousins timidly.

“Samantha! We have no idea what kind of effects that could have! For all we know them knowing... _that stuff_ could result us never being born! Why did you think that was a good idea?” Fala scolded.

Pidge sighed, “Lance, what are they talking about?”

Lance grinned, “Samantha is Hunk’s daughter and they are all second generation Paladins at least,” Lance said in a false causality, the excitement still clear in his voice.

“So they’re from the future? Is that even possible?” Pidge questions skeptically.

“It would require powerful magic, but it _is_ possible,” Allura answered slowly, “So...these are _our children_?” She asks looking back to the three girls who were all staring in concern. “Don’t worry, we almost certainly won’t remember this, you’re safe,” she said quietly, staring intensely at Fala.

Fala noticed her mother’s eyes roaming over their shared features in particular. Her white hair, her violet cheek marks, her ears, her face shape. She didn’t look that much like her mother, inheriting her father’s three eyes, tail, claws and fangs and swirling violet marks over the rest of her body.

“Hi, Mom,” she said awkwardly in Altean.

To Fala’s utter shock and horror, her mom’s eyes began to water and she moved in to clutch her to her chest, sobbing “I have a daughter! I have a child! I become a mom!” in Altean.

“So, Fala is Allura’s daughter, Samantha is Hunk’s, what about Mizuki?” Lance asked eagerly.

“Should I tell them?” Samantha asked Zuki.

“Might as well,” she signed defeated.

“Uncle Shiro’s,” Samantha informed him dutifully.

“So Alex would pretty much have to be Keith’s kid, since you said their dads were brothers,” Lance says more for himself than anyone else.

“Yep,” Samantha confirms.

“So... my kid is the Yellow Paladin!” He shouts excitedly.

“Yeah, I mean,” Samantha starts before Zuki claps her firmly on the shoulder, causing her to pause and look apologetically back at the Galran, “Laith is an absolute ball of sunshine, it was no surprise to anyone that that’s the Lion he got,” she continued.

“That’s amazing! We-” Lance started before Pidge cut him off.

“So Keith and his son are together somewhere with no contact to anyone who can tell them what exactly is going on, and we’re expecting them not to try and stab each other?” She asked.

Samantha’s eyes widened. “We should really call them,” she agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your guys' feedback has been great and its such an amazing motivator, so thank you so much! Please feel free to leave a comment with what you guys thought of this chapter/ story/ these characters, I always love to see those!


	3. Black and Yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith realizes who he’s with, and has a crisis. Hunk and Laith don’t help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guess who both isn’t dead and just watched season 8! Since I’m currently in the middle of Finals, I’m going to try and work on these more since I have more time to do just that (and I like my version of how things ended up for everyone much better).  
> 

Keith’s hike over to the other Lion did not go as planned. It turned out that the other Lion was another Black Lion with another Black Paladin pacing around it, clearly checking it out. Keith summoned his bayard as he approached and held it in a defensive position.

As he drew closer, the other Paladin sensed his presence and stiffened and summoned his own Bayard.

“Who are you?” Keith asked firmly, adjusting his stance to attack easily if necessary.

“Wait… _Dad_?” The other Paladin spun around and stared Keith down with an utterly confused expression.

What the fuck? This guy may have looked naggingly familiar; tall and lanky with messy black hair, indigo eyes, tan skin, and sharp features. But Keith didn’t have a kid! He couldn’t have a kid his age anyway, as this guy looked to be in his late teens, maybe his early twenties.

“What the hell are you talking about?” He growled back, not lowering his sword at all.

The other guy, however, completely put away his bayard and displayed his hands in a sign of peace. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t want to fight you. Let’s just talk, ok?” He said in a tone half way between exasperated and panicked.

“Start talking then,” Keith didn’t trust that this wasn’t some Druid trick and wanted to stay alert, but this guy was really throwing him off.

The other Paladin sighed, “My name is Alex, I’m the Black Paladin of Voltron, _my_ Voltron anyway. I got separated from my team after trying to dismantle a decommissioned Druid’s base. My lion and comms are down. That’s all I know,” he rattled off. Maybe he was just another victim of the Druids from another place or time, or maybe this was all a trick to get him to put his guard down. He felt safer assuming the later.

Keith was about to ask him how the hell there were two Voltrons when his helmet erupted in a blast of static and a muffled young sounding voice shouting something over the comms. Alex’s face grew grim.

“Are you safe? Do you need help? Where are you?” He asked seriously into him comm, but an edge of panic cut through his tone. Keith watched cautiously, it was really hard to keep your suspicion of a person when they completely cooperated, looked naggingly familiar, and were currently fidgeting, nearly panicking over a teammate’s well-being.  
Alex’s face fell into one of annoyance as he snapped back, “Don’t scare me like that! I thought you were seriously hurt!”

He scowled as he listened to his teammate, though that scowl slowly morphed into a more relaxed expression. “Yeah, I’m in the same position,” he paused as the teammate replied. “Who do you think?” “Yes, so following that logic would mean…” “Dumbass.” “Right, sorry.”

Alex sighed as his brows knitted together in a way Keith swore he had seen before, “Right, if that’s true, meet us here...look I’ll try but…” Alex sighed again, a slight pout making its way onto his face, “Fine. I’ll check back in if something goes wrong,” and with that he re-focuses his attention back on Keith, making the latter stiffen.

The last sentence had him on edge again. Was that actually a higher up ordering him to attack or was his paranoia getting to him again? It was difficult to tell, until Alex opened his mouth.

“That was my little brother...our Yellow Paladin, he’s with Unc- he’s with Hunk. Apparently your Lions are back up, but we both think it would be a good idea to get all of the Paladins together... apparently Hunk agrees, not that I expect that to convince you. So could you send Hunk your coordinates so they can meet us here?” He asks in the same tone kids ask their parents for something they already know they won’t agree to...which paired with his Alex originally calling him Dad made him extremely uncomfortable. He really should figure out why he called him that, or why he swears that he’s seen him before.

Regardless, he had to agree that he would feel better with one of his teammates by his side, even if it meant adding another strange Paladin. He agreed and promptly sent his coordinates (proving that their Lions were in fact functioning). Then he decided to bite the bullet and ask one of the most pressing questions on his mind.

“Why did you call me Dad?” He questioned bluntly.

Alex immediately grew nervous, fidgeting once again. “Umm...well…” He sighed, “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but you look and sound and act exactly like my dad, just younger.” He admitted easily.

Keith had no idea how to react to that information, though he did suddenly find it slightly harder to breathe and he felt his pulse rise. “Who’s your dad?” He heard himself ask before he was aware he was doing it.

“Keith Akira Kogane, the former Red then Black Paladin of Voltron…” he offered somewhat reluctantly. Keith couldn’t take this. The idea that he was staring down his own son...or an alternate realities version of his son…or whatever the fuck this was. It was too much, he just wished Hunk and the other Paladin showed up soon.

Except that other Paladin was Alex’s little brother, which would mean that he was also Keith’s son. He had to deal with two people claiming to be his future children… what the hell was going on?!?  
Thankfully his crisis didn’t last long as the Yellow Lion landed after only a few minutes of Keith trying to sort things out in pained silence while Alex watched awkwardly.

“Hey Alex!” The other Paladin greeted warmly as he rushed out of the Lion.

“Laith!” His older brother greeted warmly as well, but with a bit more strain in his tone than his brother’s. Laith didn’t look much like his brother but did look more like Keith in his face and build than Alex did. He had big, deep blue eyes and short, soft looking brown hair, his complexion just a tad bit more tan than Keith’s, but nearly everything else looked like it came directly from Keith...which was terrifying. Thankfully he had a familiar face to commiserate with.

Hunk seemed nervous as he stepped out of Yellow, but not anymore than was usual when missions went wrong. That was, until he caught sight of Keith, who didn’t need a mirror to know he must have looked like he was in extreme distress, which in all fairness he was.

“Hey man, you doing ok?” Hunk asked as he approached his friend.

“Yeah...it’s just,” he gestured to where the other Black and Yellow Paladins.

“Yeah...do you think they really are from the future?” He responded.

“What?” Keith asked surprised.

“Laith said he was from the future… or that I was from the past. Either way he thinks there was probably time travel involved.” Hunk replied, catching himself about to go off in a nervous ramble.

“I was referring more to them claiming to be my kids,” he grumbled back, crossing his arms. Just saying that phrase made a strange nauseous mix of feelings to rise.

“That too. Laith is definitely yours, even if he doesn’t act like you. He’s actually friendly,” Hunk jokes, nudging Keith with his elbow, causing Keith to scoff and shake his head. Then Hunk continues “Is it just me or does Alex look a lot like Lance?”

At first Keith wants to tell Hunk off for suggesting that a kid claiming to be his son looks a lot like his crush, but then he looks at the other Black Paladin and realizes something that causes his panic to rise. He’s right. That’s why Alex looked so familiar.Alex’s facial and body structure was near identical to Lance’s.

What was worse was that now he was looking for it, he could see more of himself in there too. He noticed how his hips were just a tiny bit wider than his waist, a feature that was much more like Keith than Lance, though the lankiness of his body gave it a more Lance-like appearance overall. He had Keith’s eyes, eyebrows, and hair, but Lance’s nose and mouth shape as well as jawline. God, the more he analyzed him, the more he seemed like he was his and Lance’s son. Even his body language was a clear blend of their own quirks.

He was able to do the same thing for Laith, who was also a near perfect blend of them two, but took more after Keith in bone structure, and had Lance’s hair and eye color (but also had Keith’s eye shape and eyebrows). Of course after gaining this knowledge his traitorous brain decided to begin thinking about starting a family with Lance. As non-paternal as Keith would claim to be, the idea of him and Lance staying up to rock or cuddle a baby together left him with a strange ache in his chest. As did the idea of teaching their baby to talk or walk. Or the image of him and Lance cuddled close with their baby on one or both of their laps doing literally anything.

He shook his head to rid himself of those unwanted, disgusting fluffy thoughts. He hated when his brain traitorously goes down the path of imagining him and Lance together at the best of times, and even then they were rarely that tooth-rotting. Still though, these two boys already claiming to be his future children with distinctly Lance-like traits was really testing his resolve and self discipline when it comes to ignoring his crush on his right-hand-man.

“Keith, buddy, are you alright? You need to breathe,” Hunk reminded him, nudging his shoulder a bit.

Keith resumed breathing and nodded. “I’m fine. This whole mess is just really weird, even for me,” he replied tensely.  
His mind refuses to leave the idea of a family with Lance. For fuck’s sake, it isn’t even possible for those two to be biologically his and Lance’s… except that wasn’t completely… _no_. It was all just ridiculous and he really just needed to drop it. Except now that he had recognized _that_ , _that_ was starting to seep into his unwanted imagination and causing him even more distress. He wanted to run away and process all this, but he had nowhere to go and it was all becoming incredibly overwhelming.

“Keith, buddy, you don’t look like your breathing...again. Are you sure you’re ok?” Hunk asked in concern.

Keith released the breath he didn’t realize he had been holding and shook his head. “Yeah, fine,” he lied awkwardly.

Laith and Alex must have finished up whatever conversation they were having and made their way over to the other Paladins, as Keith fought off the urge to run back to Black.

“So...What’s our next move? I still think we should all meet up, but something keeps jamming out comms. They’ll work for a bit then just stop, and since our Lions are still down for some fucking reason we have no clue where the rest of our team, and by extension your team, is. Our thought is to have you guys try to scan for the other Lions, it may not work, but it seems like the best place to start. What do you think?” Alex asked seriously.

Great, the guy claiming to be his kid was also a better leader than he was (tho that fact did also cause a warm feeling of pride to rise in his chest as well). “Yeah, that sounds like a good plan, Hunk?” Keith agreed.

“Yeah, that sounds-” Hunk started, but a blast of static from Keith’s helmet cut him off.

Grateful for the excuse to walk away from everyone, he quickly put his helmet back on his head and left the group.

The static finally lifted enough to hear Pidge yelling into her end in frustration, “Keith?! You better not be ignoring me!”

“I’m not ignoring you!” He snapped back indignantly, before huffing “There was too much static.”

“Keith!” She exclaimed triumphantly, before her tone shifted into a more serious one, “Please tell me you haven’t fought the other Black Paladin yet.”

“What?! No!” He was honestly a little pissed that her first assumption was that he would try to fight Alex… but then again his first instinct was to have his sword at the ready, so maybe her worry had some validity. Not that it didn’t still piss him off.

“Good. This may sound crazy but that’s your son,” She sounded like she was waiting for a bomb to go off.

Keith could feel his panic mount a little more. Hearing Pidge say that was so much worse than hearing Alex say it. He knew and trusted Pidge, not only as a friend and teammate, but also as one of the smartest people he knew. She wouldn’t say that unless she had good reason to believe it.

He took a deep breath to stabilize himself before replying with a shaky, “Yeah, I figured that out already.”

“Oh. Well, that works, as long as you aren’t doing anything that you’d regret later. Listen, Lance, Allura, and I are all here, along with their Red, Green, and Blue Paladins, you two should probably meet us here, I’ll send you our coordinates and then try to get a hold of Hunk,” She rambled.

“Hunk and Laith are with me. Send me the coordinates and I’ll just pass them along.” Keith replied automatically, his emotions shutting down, allowing him to function and continue his freak out later.

“Alright, doing that now. See you soon,” she dismissed as he received her coordinates.

He made his way back over to the group. “That was Pidge. Apparently everyone else had the same idea. She sent me her coordinates,” he announced, sending the coordinates to Hunk. “We should head over immediately. Alex, you can ride with me, Hunk take Laith. We’ll meet you over there,” he said formally before turning back towards his Lion.

When he and Alex boarded his Lion he immediately regretted not trying to get Hunk to take them both. His brain _had_ shut down his emotions, but having a guy who looks and acts like the lovechild of you and your crush, who also claims to be your future son hanging over your shoulder was enough to break through anyone’s mental barriers.

This was going to be a long ass flight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo... Season 8 happened and fucked over some characters I am quite fond of, so my plan for the next chapter will be from a perspective I was planning on doing later, but hey, this way you’ll get to meet ALL the kids, not just the Paladins, and my interpretation of where they all end up after they pass on the mantle. (Hint: no one’s dead).


End file.
